Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Shell the fresh young peas just before using.
Cook and serve
Boil the peas in a kettle of salted water for 20 minutes or until tender.
Drain the peas and transfer them to a hot covered dish.
Add a lump of butter and serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh young peas
- Provide the main body of the dish, with a tender texture when cooked through.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the cooked peas a smooth, savoury finish.
The step that matters
Boil until tender. Peas need enough time in boiling salted water to soften fully. Undercooked peas stay firm and starchy, while the salt seasons them from within as they cook.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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